A Stolen Bouquet
by reallyohdeariedear
Summary: Belle is having a bad day, and Rush is determined to help in any way he can.


It was easy to push all thoughts of her out of his mind. Or at least that's what Rush told himself as he slaved over the console. If he possessed a lesser mind, he would call it overcompensating. As it was, it was just an average day. Another typed line of code, another pushed button, another saved misadventure. He was doing perfectly fine without his Belle beside him every moment.

"…yeah, well I wasn't the one who made French cry."

And there went that.

He was surprised he didn't give himself whiplash from how quickly he jerked up to glare at Brody. It was Eli who flinched under his gaze, however. Brody had seemed to almost accept the fact that Rush couldn't stand him (more than he couldn't stand the others) and he met his murderous stare head on. It was admirable, really, although Rush would never admit it.

Eli leapt to explain before Rush had to shake him, which was to the boy's credit. The crew of Destiny had learned a while ago that Rush didn't fuck around where Belle was concerned, even more than he didn't fuck around where anything else was concerned.

"I think she's just having a bad day. She was all sad in the lab earlier, and then when we were eating someone told a joke and she burst into tears and left."

"After she apologized."

Rush ignored Brody's tacked-on comment as he always did. Of course she had apologized for her tears. His Belle would apologize to an alien who was trying to kill her if she got the chance. It was only Rush who got to see the more fiery side of her, and he wasn't about to share that.

He didn't even bother to ask what the joke was. It didn't matter. Belle was off somewhere crying when she should be with him smiling, and suddenly the coding didn't seem all that important anymore. Nobody protested when he left the room, as he had assumed they wouldn't.

The worry he had pushed down began to rise up the longer he walked without finding her, and when he reached their room and she was nowhere inside it started to claw painfully at him. Belle had her own room, of course she did, but she hadn't used them in months. He had forgotten they even existed. Why would she have gone there?

The worry began to mix with anxiety, which intermingled with panic once the hydroponics lab was cleared. His Belle loved to smell what passed for flowers out here far from civilization, and she had smiled almost as widely the day he had brought her a stolen bouquet as when he had first said "I love you".

Although Belle was about as friendly as it was possible for a person to be, she didn't have too many friends aboard Destiny. She called them all acquaintances and preferred to hide away in the console room and read while he slaved away. It was the perfect setting for both of them; she got to avoid the chattering distractions of the crew, and he got to accomplish more than he ever had when he was alone by just knowing she was there. She had chosen a room a bit off the beaten path as a result of her preferred solitude, but even knowing it was farther away, it took an unforgivable time to reach it.

The light was on inside, if the artificial yellow under the door was any sign. The clawing monster inside Rush's stomach let up a bit at the sight, but he knew it wouldn't go away until he could see her smile. He rapped on the door with the knuckles of two fingers, his face falling when he heard a muffled sniffle.

"Belle, love?" His voice was quiet and thickly accented in his concern. There was another sniff, and then a hesitant return.

"One second, Nick."

If his face had fallen before, it crumpled now. He had never heard her sound so _small_, and if he ever discovered who had done this they would pay. He knew the nooks and crannies of this ship better than anyone, and there were several places that it would be impossibly to escape from without-

The door whirring open interrupted his murderous thoughts, which was probably a good thing. The red rimmed eyes that greeted him were not. He took her into his arms immediately, the monster finally receding as she tucked her head into his neck at once and exhaled. The breath that washed over his skin as a result caused him to shiver, but it was easy to push away those thoughts when she began to tremble.

"Belle. Oh, Belle…"

The trembling became shaking, and the timer delay on the door caused it to close behind them. Rush leaned back against it, rubbing his palms across her back in what he hoped was a soothing manner. Although they had been in a relationship for several months, it was a long time since he had had to comfort someone. Belle was always so strong, and to see her so vulnerable was heartbreaking.

He cooed into her ear, nonsense noises that weren't exactly words but seemed to have the desired effect. She inhaled sharply a few times, and when he turned slightly and kissed her cheek the inhales became gasps. It was only a few seconds before the gasps turned into tears, and she was sobbing openly into the space between his neck and shoulder. It felt extremely awkward, standing against a door and holding a crying woman, but he wouldn't have left if the ship were exploding.

He kept up the soothing strokes of his hands and occasional kisses of whatever skin he could reach, and after a few short minutes she had become quiet again. He didn't want to move and risk her interpreting it wrong, so it was a relief when Belle was the one to pull away. She didn't go far, his hold on her wouldn't allow it, but she did pull back so he could see her face. She wasn't meeting his eyes, and his heart hadn't felt this full in _years_.

"Belle, dearest, what happened?"

It was the dearest that caught her attention, he could tell, and she rustled up a sad smile. It didn't reach her eyes like normal. One of Rush's favorite things about Belle (besides everything) was the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed. They were sparkling now, glinting with leftover tears, but he found he did not like this type of sparkle at all.

"I don't even remember," she admitted quietly with a forced huff of laughter and a shrug. She was staring at his chest, and he slid his hands around to rub his palms up and down her arms. She seemed honest, but how could someone not remember something that had hurt them so? If she didn't want to talk, Rush wasn't going to push her. But he wasn't about to let it go without figuring out if there was the tiniest thing he could help with.

"Is there something I can do?"

He meant every syllable, and he tried to meet her eyes to show her that, although he hoped she already knew. It was a blank check that he would never in a million years hand to anyone else, but if Belle asked him to crash Destiny into the nearest star he would be tempted. Hell, he might actually do it.

She nibbled her bottom lip in a way that would normally drive him crazy, but the fire of his lust was sufficiently tampered by the pain he had seen in her eyes a few short minutes ago. This was not a time for his libido to control the outcome of their conversation. He encouraged her, catching her chin and tilting her head up to mate their eyes.

"Anything," he promised. Her eyes began to fill again, but he had no time to wonder what he had said wrong before her lips pressed into his, insistent and leaving no room for him to pull away. As if he had any intention of doing so. He pressed back firmly, choking on a moan when her tongue attempted to slip between his lips. She didn't have to try very hard, and within moments she had coaxed his own tongue into her mouth and began to suck teasingly. The temperature of the room shot up sufficiently, and he no longer tried to hold back his groan. She smiled against his mouth, but he could not pull back to see it.

She did not give him time to question the motivation behind her actions, transferring her kisses to his jaw and then down his neck, where she proceeded to nibble, pulling the skin into her mouth until she released it with a pop. Only then did she pull back to grin proudly, and Nick knew that by tomorrow there would be a dark bruise showing off her ownership of him.

With a growl that would have sounded threatening in any other situation, he nudged her back in a frantic stumble across the room, pleased when she fell across the bed without either of them falling over. He attacked her exposed throat immediately, intent on leaving his own mark on her pale skin. It didn't take much, it never did, but her moans spurred him on until a dark red circle glared up at him. She giggled at his own proud grin before using a hand in his hair to push their mouths back together, nipping at his bottom lip as she tugged on his collar in a clear indication of her want.

He had promised her anything, and he meant it. She knew her own mind well enough to know if this was a bad idea, and as he pulled his shirts over his head and tossed them away, he allowed no room for questioning or regret. His Belle wanted him, which he had long ago ceased to try and fathom, and he could deny her nothing.

Her shirt was the next to go, and he attacked the newly exposed skin ravenously. If her arching was any indication, she had no complaints. A loud moan met his ears when he tugged on the edge of her bra with his teeth, scraping over a hardened nipple in the process. She pushed on his shoulders, and for a moment he was concerned that he had hurt her somehow or maybe this wasn't what she wanted after all, but his thoughts completely dissipated as she sat up and reached behind her to unclasp the conventional fabric hiding her from his hungry gaze. The moment she leaned back down, she had his head in her hands and was pushing down gently. He wasted no time, returning her nipple to its rightful place in his mouth and sucking like a babe. She was quite clear in her ardor, and pleasing her was a small price to pay to see that smile stretched across her face. No price at all, really, since it was something he did gladly and with no strings.

A whimpering moan met his ears as her fingers clenched in his hair, and the sound went through him like liquid fire. His jeans were beyond the point of being uncomfortable, and he was becoming concerned that seam would leave a permanent imprint. He moved his mouth across her chest, taking his time to lave the space between wetly before latching on with practiced accuracy to the tip of her right breast. When she arched beneath him with a low squeal of delight, he slipped one hand from its spot on her hip to unbutton his jeans, the pressure against the front of his trousers pulling the zip down on its own, for which he was both amused and grateful.

He slid his way down her body slowly, pulling his upper lip back and allowing his teeth to indent the skin of her stomach. She sucked in a breath and then immediately let it back out as a whimper when he licked his way along the line of her army issue trousers. They were obviously too big for her, hanging low on her hips in a way that never failed to catch his eyes when she sauntered around Destiny, and he gave himself a moment to express his appreciation by laving her hipbones hotly.

It was Belle who reached down to undo her own pants, and his dark chuckle seemed to make her moan almost as much as his help with her panties. She clutched at his shoulders and seemed to be attempting to pull him up, but as tempting as her mouth was he had something else in mind. He easily ignored her futile pulls and buried his face between her legs, not bothering to hold in another chuckle at her load yelp. There were times when he almost wished that her quarters were closer to the main hall. People should hear Belle in her pleasure and know that he was the only one who could cause it.

Her flavor was bursting in his mouth and not allowing a lot of room for thought, and he whined in despair when Belle fisted locks of his hair and pulled him away. He wasn't done, not nearly, but he went with her urging this time and fused their mouths together, moaning when he felt her tongue wiggle around to catch all of her own flavor. When she pulled back and whispered, "fuck me" against his mouth, it was all he could do to push off his pants, pull her legs around his waist and enter her without coming against her stomach like a teenager.

This time their moans were a distinct harmony that Rush wished he could hear on repeat at all times of the day. He would never get tired of that sound, even if he lived forever. He wasted no time in pulling out and gliding his way back in, nipping gently at the already darkened spot on her neck as he struggled to breath through the pleasure. When it became apparent that he was not going to last, because anyone who could ignore the kind of pleasure that resided inside of Belle's body was a bloody saint and Rush was far from that, he located the ridge above their connected bodies easily and flicked it with his fingernail. She yowled against his mouth, which caused him to moan back, and the sounds only increased in volume the longer he pushed against her. He could tell she had found her pleasure even before he felt the telltale tightening around his cock from the way she threw her head back and screamed. He latched onto her neck and bit down as he followed her, moaning as he released himself into her body.

In the wake of their moans, the silence was echoing. Rush finally gathered the presence of mind to flop onto his back and pull her atop him, her leg slinging across his hips easily as she cushioned her head on his chest. He combed her hair back and kissed her forehead, reveling in the smile that he felt more than saw.

"All better," she confided with a grin.

Rush found himself grinning back. All better indeed.


End file.
